MTA Public Hearings

[gregorygrice]

Today the first of the MTA public hearings starts. There will be a range of public hearings starting in White Plains and other places such as the Bronx and Manhattan. I was wondering if anyone is going to one of these hearings and deciding if I should go.

 

For more Info: http://www.mta.info/news/pdf/hearings.pdf

 

Heres the Fox 5 Link Video: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/traffic/mta/mta-begins-public-hearings-20100301

[INDman]

Dog and pony show, no matter how many people show up and voice their "outrage" the MTA will still do as they please.

[FamousNYLover]

I register to speak via email at Sheraton LGA, Paradise Theater, FIT.

[rr4567]

Today the first of the MTA public hearings starts. There will be a range of public hearings starting in White Plains and other places such as the Bronx and Manhattan. I was wondering if anyone is going to one of these hearings and deciding if I should go.

 

For more Info: http://www.mta.info/news/pdf/hearings.pdf

 

Was that YOU on FOX 5 at 10?

[FamousNYLover]

Today, I overslept for Straphanger's Campaign leaflet event at 34th St-Herald Sq to tell no service cut. Even One of one of Atlantic Express B/O also took the flyer.

[gregorygrice]

Was that YOU on FOX 5 at 10?

 

At the White Plains meeting with the dark blue jacket and kinda deep voice... Yeah First I wasn't going to speak but I ended up speaking anyway. I talked about how removing the student MetroCards would affect students and that service cuts did not make sense because they already spent millions on new cars and It would be a waste and also pointless. I also discussed other topics. I was happy when I got interview by 3 news channels (Fox 5, Channel 12, and the Spanish news!) I was the only teen there. Over all it was a good meeting and it was nice to see other people speak out (including some government officials and commuters themselves. I will probably post a couple of pictures I took with my phone tomorrow.

[nel070]

Although the MTA has had its history of budget blunders and miss steps I think the media and public anger is mis directed. I think the anger and frustration at these cuts should be directed at the politicians who appoint the members to the MTA board like Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Patterson. I think the politicians in the city such as Vallone and Quinn have done a great job at the deflecting the blame away from the politicians onto the MTA board when we all know these are the people who year after year keep reducing the city and state contributions to the MTA.

[Locomotion69]

Dog and pony show, no matter how many people show up and voice their "outrage" the MTA will still do as they please.

 

Exactly, it is all for show, just part of their "ACT".

[S78 via Hylan]

Today, I will be going to the meeting @ C.S.I.

[Shortline Bus]

Dog and pony show, no matter how many people show up and voice their "outrage" the MTA will still do as they please.

 

Agreed. Unless Albany provides another bailout(which i doubt in an election year)and the neighborhood in question with the planned cuts has a powerful City Council Member or powerful State Senate/Assembly Member in albany, it's for very little hope.

[cdi919]

At the White Plains meeting with the dark blue jacket and kinda deep voice... Yeah First I wasn't going to speak but I ended up speaking anyway. I talked about how removing the student MetroCards would affect students and that service cuts did not make sense because they already spent millions on new cars and It would be a waste and also pointless. I also discussed other topics. I was happy when I got interview by 3 news channels (Fox 5, Channel 12, and the Spanish news!) I was the only teen there. Over all it was a good meeting and it was nice to see other people speak out (including some government officials and commuters themselves. I will probably post a couple of pictures I took with my phone tomorrow.

 

student pass's are not the (MTA)s problem. the city and doe are the ones that are supposed to fund that. thats why we pay school tax. but they want to dump the problem on the

[cdi919]

Although the MTA has had its history of budget blunders and miss steps I think the media and public anger is mis directed. I think the anger and frustration at these cuts should be directed at the politicians who appoint the members to the MTA board like Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Patterson. I think the politicians in the city such as Vallone and Quinn have done a great job at the deflecting the blame away from the politicians onto the MTA board when we all know these are the people who year after year keep reducing the city and state contributions to the MTA.

 

the city and state have been shortchanging the for over 20 years. remember when pataki(spelling) cut lots of funding? thats why (MTA)has to pass the buck to the fares.

[FamousNYLover]

Today's public hearing was crazy as usual.

One of councillady took long time.

Rockaway Communities were saying, "NO TOLL ON CROSS BAY BRIDGE" because it is only interborough bridge with toll in Queens.

Even they mention if they cut Student MetroCard at same time, school bus cutting their service, bad idea.

[Forest Glen]

These hearings are useless. The MTA has to hold hearings whenever there's a major fare hike or service cut. However, the MTA doesn't listen to the people.

[T to Dyre Avenue]

the city and state have been shortchanging the for over 20 years. remember when pataki(spelling) cut lots of funding? thats why (MTA)has to pass the buck to the fares.

 

And the State Legislature shortchanged the once again this past December by cutting $143 million from its budget to cover their own blunders with the State budget.

[lilbluefoxie]

These hearings are useless. The MTA has to hold hearings whenever there's a major fare hike or service cut. However, the MTA doesn't listen to the people.

 

I'd like to hope that the voice of the people that use their trains and buses would make a difference, but in reality do you think its really going to change their minds?

 

I know at my school, they have been sending flyers and emails about the proposal to cut the N95 bus, which is a major link between my college and the nearest LIRR station. That would leave only Suffolk Transit's 2A bus as the only bus serving the college.

[Ridgewoodian]

I went to the meeting tonight in Flushing and stayed until almost 11:00 when I got to speak for a couple of minutes.

 

Some thoughts: It's pretty clear that one of the main jobs of the MTA Board is to act as a flack catcher for elected politicians who don't want to make hard transit funding choices. For hours they sat there impassivly, hardly every saying a word, except to blandly thank each speaker, as speaker after speaker - some of whom should have known better - excoriated them and blamed them for this awful situation. All the while very little was said about the true villians of this stupid drama - our inept state government up in Albany and, to a lesser extent, our city government here in Gotham. Because let's face it, while the MTA is far from perfect it didn't blow $800 million on booze and women. The shortfall is overwhelmingly due to Albany's perverse refusal to properly fund the MTA for twenty years or more. But, like I said, little was said about that and the peoples' anger broke over these well-paid sacrificial lambs. Brilliant.

 

Anyway, I urged the Board to go ahead with the (M)/(V) combo, noting that something will have to be done at an early date about head ways and urged the crowd - such as was left at 11:00 - to contact their state legislators and be angry at them.

[Shortline Bus]

And the State Legislature shortchanged the once again this past December by cutting $143 million from its budget to cover their own blunders with the State budget.

 

 

Hate to say this but many of the same people B--ching and moaning about the doomesday cuts are same ones who vote the clowns woops i mean members of the State Legislature and the previous Governors from both major parties over last 20 years that has lead to this point. So in some ways, the public are at fault too for giving the and most important the State Legislature so much power and keeping basically the same people in office :tdown::mad: .

[checkmatechamp13]

The problem is that after a few sentences were spoken by each speaker, the crowd started going nuts, chanting ''NO MORE CUTS'' and booing the people on the stage. True, some of the facts are true, but, come on, the more people get to speak, the better. Some of the people got riled up over the slightest things, and started whole uproars after every speech.

I wanted to take a test for Jeopardy, because it was only given once, and you had to be logged in before it began. So, I left at about 8:15, when they took a bathroom break, and returned at about 9:30. I actually got to speak at 10PM (the crowd was a small fraction of what it was at 8PM).

The thing is that, in addition to my speech on Student MetroCards (which would affect me personally), I gave in proposals on some other service restructurings that the MTA might want to look into (some of which were mentioned on this forum). I didn't want to list very one, so I gave in my proposals earlier to one of the representatives.

By the way, I think I heard part of my Student MetroCard speech on the radio this morning.

[gregorygrice]

I went to the meeting tonight in Flushing and stayed until almost 11:00 when I got to speak for a couple of minutes.

 

Some thoughts: It's pretty clear that one of the main jobs of the MTA Board is to act as a flack catcher for elected politicians who don't want to make hard transit funding choices. For hours they sat there impassivly, hardly every saying a word, except to blandly thank each speaker, as speaker after speaker - some of whom should have known better - excoriated them and blamed them for this awful situation. All the while very little was said about the true villians of this stupid drama - our inept state government up in Albany and, to a lesser extent, our city government here in Gotham. Because let's face it, while the MTA is far from perfect it didn't blow $800 million on booze and women. The shortfall is overwhelmingly due to Albany's perverse refusal to properly fund the MTA for twenty years or more. But, like I said, little was said about that and the peoples' anger broke over these well-paid sacrificial lambs. Brilliant.

 

Anyway, I urged the Board to go ahead with the (M)/(V) combo, noting that something will have to be done at an early date about head ways and urged the crowd - such as was left at 11:00 - to contact their state legislators and be angry at them.

 

The problem is that after a few sentences were spoken by each speaker, the crowd started going nuts, chanting ''NO MORE CUTS'' and booing the people on the stage. True, some of the facts are true, but, come on, the more people get to speak, the better. Some of the people got riled up over the slightest things, and started whole uproars after every speech.

I wanted to take a test for Jeopardy, because it was only given once, and you had to be logged in before it began. So, I left at about 8:15, when they took a bathroom break, and returned at about 9:30. I actually got to speak at 10PM (the crowd was a small fraction of what it was at 8PM).

The thing is that, in addition to my speech on Student MetroCards (which would affect me personally), I gave in proposals on some other service restructurings that the MTA might want to look into (some of which were mentioned on this forum). I didn't want to list very one, so I gave in my proposals earlier to one of the representatives.

By the way, I think I heard part of my Student MetroCard speech on the radio this morning.

 

I'm glad you guys spoke in the hearings.:tup: I was surprised at the amount of people that showered up to the other hearings. The White Plains one had a lack of commuters (most who attended were government from CT or from different commuter groups). I guess we have to see how they respond...

[FamousNYLover]

Here are videos I took with my Digtal Camera.

 

 

 

[FamousNYLover]

I'm glad you guys spoke in the hearings.:tup: I was surprised at the amount of people that showered up to the other hearings. The White Plains one had a lack of commuters (most who attended were government from CT or from different commuter groups). I guess we have to see how they respond...

Last time, when I was at White Plains Hearing regarding Fare Hike affecting Bee-Line Buses, it finish early like 8pm. After that meeting, Bee-Line fare increase discussion due to Fare Hike, and no one did not speak for Bee-Line.

[gregorygrice]

Here are videos I took with my Digtal Camera.

 

 

 

 

Good Videos! I'm glad many people attended!

[checkmatechamp13]

Here are videos I took with my Digtal Camera.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, my computer isn't letting me see the videos. Which hearings are those for and how long are the videos?

[FamousNYLover]

Here are more shots of Queens Public Hearing.